The Lion, the Witch, and the Library
by ohsnap its potter
Summary: James is distraught. Peter's costume is better than his. He accidentally purred into his best mates ear. He wasn't invited to the party in the Library. It's a Halloween disaster... or is it? ONESHOT. LJ.


A/N: So here's a halloween oneshot. I decided to write it to get into the spirit. However, it's a bit insane. Honestly, It's really late, but I felt the need to write something. It's a long weekend for me, therefore i can update both of my other stories also, so keep an eye out for those. :) I really hope you enjoy this story, please review!

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.

* * *

James looked at his reflection in the mirror. He growled rather well, for he had been practicing for the past few days. Nodding; as if in approval, he exited the dorm room and descended the stairs. 

When he reached the bottom, he spotted a flash of red hair sitting by the fire and he grinned, advancing slowly.

He leaned over her shoulder and growled, although it sounded more like a purr.

The figure stood up and swung around, and James shrieked, clutching his heart in terror.

"BLOODY HELL!" He cried, "WHY DO YOU LOOK LIKE A MAN?!"

"Because I am a man." It said, winking.

James stumbled backwards. "What? Lily Evans is a…a man?"

"It's me." The figure said, "Sirius, your best mate."

"Lily Evans is Sirius Black?" James mumbled, dumbfounded.

"NO!" Sirius shouted, whipping off his red wig, "I AM SIRIUS BLACK!"

James brought a shaking hand up to Sirius' face to touch his cheek gently. He then pulled it back and narrowed his eyes, "Alright, Sirius. Why were you wearing a red wig?" He stepped back to get a better look at his friend. "And why are you wearing girl clothes?"

Sirius grinned, "Because I'm Lily Evans."

"WHAT?!" James shrieked again, "I did _not_ see that one coming."

Sirius then took his wig and began to advance on James slowly. "Are you drunk? Or are you severely damaged in the brain?"

James shook his head, looking at the wig carefully.

"THEN WHY CAN YOU POSSIBLY THINK THAT LILY EVANS IS SECRETLY ME IN DISGUISE!?" He cried, smacking his friend repeatedly with the over the head with the wig.

James put his hands up in defense and backed away. "Alright, I'm sorry. But what was I supposed to think? You're wearing a red wig and…_are those her clothes_?"

Sirius nodded. "It's Halloween, James. To get into the spirit Dumbledore said to dress up like someone or something. So I chose Lily Evans. And so I stole her clothes."

"But _why_?" James repeated.

"Well why are dressed like a…a…" Sirius trailed off, "Oh no, James. You're supposed to be a tiger, aren't you?"

James nodded and spun around eagerly. "Do you like it?"

"You are such a loser, James." Sirius said, "Most guys are being that Romeo guy o-or a vampire, or something…"

"Sirius, you're dressed as a woman."

"Touche."

"Anyways, I have to go find the real Lily." James said. "Any idea what she's dressed as?"

"Nope, no idea." He shrugged.

"Alright, well Happy Halloween!" James sang, and with that he took off out of the common room.

He wandered down the halls. No one was dressed up as anything clever. They were all dressed up as their friends or a ghost. Sir Nicholas and the others did _not_ appreciate that costume.

James strolled down the corridor until he spotted Peter. "Happy Halloween." He said happily, before he gave him a second glance, then a third, then a fourth, then yet another…

"Easy." Peter laughed, "You're going to make your head fall off."

"Sorry, it's just…have you lost weight or something, Pete?"

"I'm not Peter." The so called Peter laughed, "It's me, Remus."

James leaned in closer, "Bloody Hell, it _is_ you."

Remus rolled his eyes, "Merlin, James. I'm only wearing his clothes. It's the only idea I had, I didn't think I'd actually fool anyone…"

"Yeah, well, you fooled me."

"That was quite evident, surprisingly."

"So I take it Peter's dressed up as you?" James asked.

Remus shrugged, "Wouldn't know, actually. Haven't seen him all day."

James nodded, "Alright. Well, have you seen Lily anywhere? I'm looking for her."

"Yeah, she was at the library last time I saw her." Remus said, "But I'm gonna go, I heard Sirius is dressed as Lily, and I just have to see that…."

James waved good-bye to his good mate dressed as another one of his good mates, and took off for the library, shaking his head all the way. Lily was a nerd even on Halloween, hanging out in the library while everyone else was throwing parties. People were even going to pass out candy later in the day.

He swerved by a bunch of people who gave him the once over, looking at his outfit with their eyebrows lost in their hair lines. It hugged him tightly in the arms, and he had painted his face yellow and black in the print of a tiger. He had a long tail, and semi-loose pants that looked more like bellbottoms than anything else. He was still wearing his usual white sneakers, and that was the way people could recognize who he was at a glance. Believe it or not, but James was _not_ the type to be seen dressed in that on a regular bases.

As he reached the library he could feel his brow furrow in confusion. He was still a ways away, but what he could tell from where he was standing was that the library was unusually dark. Was Lily sad? Maybe she needed him to cheer her up. Maybe…maybe the nerds turned off the lights on holidays and gathered in the library, moping about their lack of love life. Some even probably moped about their lack of life, _period_.

He finally reached the doors that were decorated with spider webs and floating pumpkins. He tried wrenching it open, but it just wouldn't budge.

"LILY!" He cried, pounding furiously, "I KNOW YOU'RE IN THERE! IT'S JAMES! COME OUT!"

But there was no reply, and this confused even more than he already was. Sure, Lily wasn't exactly his biggest fan, but this year was their seventh year, and they both had been made Heads. He thought she at least respected him a little bit for achieving such a goal.

He pounded for a bit longer before his fists became red and raw. He leaned against the door and slumped to the ground, placing his head in his hands.

"Hey James."

James looked up at the sound of the actual Peter's voice, expecting to see him in Remus' clothes. Maybe he was wearing spectacles and pretending to state random equations he thought made sense. Remus didn't wear spectacles or randomly state equations, but knowing Peter, he would dress like that thinking he was incredibly funny.

But Peter was not dressed as Remus. And right at that moment James wished he was. Because what Peter was dressed as was even worse.

"DAMMIT PETER!" James shrieked, "YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO BE A LION, AREN'T YOU?"

Peter nodded, his big mane that was glued to the hood of his yellow sweatshirt bobbing. "You're a tiger, huh?"

James nodded and clambered to his feet. "Absolutely no one is dressed as something exciting. You and I are probably some of the only ones in the school. And we both just happen to be a lion and a tiger?"

"We need a bear." Peter said, before laughing hysterically. See. He thought the most un-funny things were absolutely hilarious.

"Peter." James said slowly, "Do you know what's going on in the library?"

"A party. Obviously you weren't invited."

James pretended to look absolutely distraught, "I'm so terribly hurt…I wasn't invited to the _library_ party…"

Peter patted his shoulder sympathetically, "It's okay mate, it's okay." He paused, "You know what? I was invited, and I bet they won't care, so I'll just let you in."

James smiled as Peter wondered over to the door and mumbled some kind of password.

As he walked over there James noticed that Peter's costume looked a lot better than his. It seemed more golden, and the tail was longer. In a random rage of jealousy, James '_accidentally_' stepped on his tail, causing Peter, who has just opened the door, to tumble inside and land on the floor.

James was about to say something to him, before he looked up and his breath caught in his throat. Pumpkins were floating every which way, and there was loud, scary music blaring from an invisible source. He looked around in awe, everyone was dancing, and it was basically pitch black. There were decorations every where, and there were also food tables. But the thing that made is jaw drop most, was the fact that everyone there was actually _in costume_. They weren't dressed as a friend or anything, but they all actually got into the holiday.

He made to walk in further, but he tripped and fell to the ground also, Peter standing triumphantly over him.

For some reason, he was much more courageous when dressed as a lion.

"Did you just step on my tail?"

Peter nodded and roared, before stalking away and laughing hysterically.

"Uh oh, cat fight." Someone said, and James turned around to see one of Lily's best friends.

"Chloe." He grinned, "Is Lily here?"

She nodded, "Actually she was looking for you."

"Really?" He raised his eyebrows, "Well, do you know where she is?"

"Dancing with some guy dressed as a lion."

"WHAT?"

"I'm kidding, James." She smirked, "Anyways, she's over there, dancing by herself." She gave him a pointed look, "I'm sure she'd _love_ someone to dance with."

He grinned, "I can take a hint."

With that he walked over to where she pointed. It wasn't all that hard to find her, even in the dark. He could see the red hair amidst everyone else's. Her back was towards him, and he smiled approvingly. She was wearing a tight, black dress that flowed just above her knees, and high black heels. Her hair was in large curls, and she was swinging her hips to the beat.

He came up behind her and growled in her ear, which, once again sounded more like a purr. She whipped around. "Hey James." She smiled.

He shrieked loudly and stumbled backwards into a table, spilling the punch. It splattered the floor as he stuck his fist in his mouth. He stomped the floor and looked away before looked back at her.

"What the…?" He began.

There was a long, awkward silence.

"What's on you're…?"

Once again, another awkward silence. Only by now, Lily's eyes were narrowed into tiny slits.

He was so confused, "Why are you-? What are you-? Are you trying to-? What the-?"

"Bloody Hell, James." She snapped, "Spit it out."

"_What's_ on your _face_?" He demanded.

"It's a fake nose, thank you." She said defensively, folding her arms across her chest.

"What are you supposed to be?" He persisted.

"I'm a witch."

"I know you are." James said, "But what are you supposed to be for Halloween?"

"A witch, James." Lily said angrily, "A muggle witch. This is what muggles think witches look like."

"Thank Merlin you aren't a muggle…" He mumbled under his breath.

"What was that?" She snapped.

"Nothing."

She pursed her lips, the monstrous fake nose flopping up and down. "You are a shallow boy, James Potter. I was looking forward to spending Halloween with you because I thought you'd changed. But you're just the same. If I had a nose like this you wouldn't like me."

"That's not true." He said.

"Then STOP LOOKING AT IT!" She demanded.

He tore his eyes away, "Lily. I was a caught a bit off-guard but I don't care. If you had a nose like that I would still like you."

She rolled her eyes and began to walk away.

He grabbed her arm, "I'm serious, Lily." He said slowly, "I don't think you realize why I like you so much. It's not because of your nice arse or shiny hair or beautiful eyes."

She bit her lip, trying not to look too flattered.

"It's because of your persistence. A-and you're brain. You are quite the smart girl, Lil."

"Alright." She said, and pulled away from him. "Somehow, I don't believe you."

"That's your problem then." He called to her retreating back.

"Excuse me?" She asked, turning around. She had expected him to chase after her, begging and pleading like he normally did.

"If you can't see I like you then that's your problem. So go ahead, walk away and find some guy dressed as a muggle wizard. He'll probably have a large nose also…"

"No, James." She corrected, "Muggle wizards don't look like muggle witches."

He continued as though he hadn't heard her, "Because I'm a tiger, I can stick this out. I can lick this." He paused and bit his lip, trying desperately not to cackle at his own joke. "But I don't know what else I can do to get through to you. I'm tired of chasing. Even tigers get tired, Lil." He paused once more.

'_Don't laugh…_' He thought furiously, for he had made yet another pun.

"James." She began, "I-I guess I have seen another side to you and…I mean, don't think I do this on a regular bases, because most of the time you're an enormous prat, and it was just today that I guessed you were being one again and you actually weren't." She paused and smiled slightly, "You were actually being kind of sweet."

He grinned, "We tigers know how to _bite_ a joke or two."

"That wasn't funny." She said, noticing his lip quivering.

"Oh, alright."

"I'd like to dance though." She said, "What do you say? A tiger and a witch?"

"I say it makes the perfect couple." He growled, "Would you take my paw?"

"Oh Merlin…" She groaned as he pulled her onto the dance floor.

"I have to give you credit," He said, "You nerds sure know how to throw a party."

She laughed and stepped closer to him. "Happy Halloween, James."

He purred, "You know, even with that nose you look incredibly sexy."

"Yeah, well, I wish I could say the same about you. But those yellow bellbottoms are just hideous…"

He put his arm around her waist, "You know you love them." He said, leaning in closer. She closed her eyes and they both prepared themselves. But she was surprised at the sound she heard next.

"OH SHIT!" He cried out in pain.

"What?!" She shrieked, opening her eyes. "What's wrong?"

"You're nose gauged my eye!" He cried, covering it as though wounded.

"I'm so sorry!" She cried, "Here, let me look." She took his hand away, "You know…" She said as she examined his eye, "I thought tigers were supposed to be tough…"

"I am." He said, "And that's why I'm going to try it again."

Lily smiled and closed her eyes. He leaned in once more, but just before he got too close, he pulled off the fake nose and tossed it to the ground.

"Just in case." James laughed, before leaning down and kissing her.

* * *

A/N: Please read and review! 


End file.
